MS-SQL Licensing Metrics

Core vs Processor vs Server Licenses

SQL2012+ Core-Based Licensing

  • Core based licensing is appropriate when customers are unable to count users/devices, have Internet/Extranet workloads or systems that integrate with external facing workloads.

  • Standard Edition is limited to the lesser of 4 Sockets or 16 cores (or logical processors in a virtual environment).

  • The "Core Factor Table" is not applicable to SQL Server starting with SQL Server 2016 (it was only valid for SQL2012 and SQL2014).

The Core Factor Table was an attempt to level the playing field for multi-core processors with poor single-threaded performance.

  • A minimum of 4 core licenses are required for each physical processor on the server.

MS-SQL Licensing

SQL2012+ Server & CAL Licensing

  • Applies to: Standard Edition and Business Intelligence Edition

  • License each individual server with a SQL Server license

  • License each user or device accessing the server with a SQL Server CAL

When is core more cost efficient than server/CAL?...

MS-SQL Licensing

SQL2008 Processor Licensing

  • A "Processor" is the same as a "Socket" for SQL2008.

  • In a virtualised environment, a "Processor" is the same as a "vCPU" or "logical processor".

  • SQL Server 2008 is limited to 64 logical processors.

  • SQL Server 2008 R2 on Windows Server 2008 R2 is limited to 256 logical processors.

  • SQL Server 2008 R2 EE had a license limit of 8 physical processors. For more, you needed to run SQL Server 2008 R2 Data Center Edition.